Information should be gathered about the renal impairment history or type of kidney disease to enable a risk assessment and decisions about treatment.

Potential issues in renal impairment

Asking the right questions and gathering information is important because using medicines in people with renal impairment can lead to issues such as toxicity, increased side effects and reduced therapeutic effects.

Even where mild renal impairment is suspected, the renal function should be checked, and medications reviewed.

Advice for undertaking medication reviews

There are different types of kidney disorders such as Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) and Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) which all have different considerations when completing a medication review.

Some kidney disorders can result in people requiring Renal Replacement Therapies (RRT).

To help inform your review, follow the advice in our article Assessing the impact of renal impairment on medicines safety.

Gathering information

Take a stepwise approach for gathering information when managing medicines in people with renal impairment.

Update history

  1. Title amended
  1. Published